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DebunkReally?Space

Top 10 Most Outrageous Science Myths

1. Outer space has no gravity – On the contrary, there is gravity in space. In fact, there is a lot of it. The main reason why astronauts seem to be floating in space is that they are actually falling towards the earth but are moving sideways in order to avoid it. In effect, astronauts are actually orbiting the earth.

2. Lightning will never strike the same spot twice – When you are considering running away from a lightning bolt, forget about the popular adage as you might be jolted to the stark reality that indeed lightning strike in the same place more frequently.

3. Meteors are heated up by friction upon entry to the earth’s atmosphere – Once the meteor enters the earth’s atmosphere, the compressed air in front of the meteor heats it up. It hurtles down towards the earth at enormous speed causing the creation of friction between the compressed air and the surface of the meteor.

4. A person may die when hit by a penny drop from a high building – This is an oft repeated clichés so commonly seen in movies. There is no basis for such assumption in truth and in fact. The worst that can happen is that the person getting hit by a penny dropped from a high building will feel the sting and nothing more.

5. Dead brain cells can not regenerate – This was the previous principle taught to us in our science classes. However, scientist in Sweden debunked this principle by successfully demonstrating the capability of the brain cells to regenerate.

6. The moon has its own dark side – On the contrary, all the surfaces of the moon are illuminated by the sun at one time or another. This misconception is brought about by the presence of a portion of the moon which is not visible to us here on earth. The reason for this is because of tidal locking.

7. It is safe to eat food dropped on the floor as long as you pick them up within 5 seconds – This is plain hogwash! If there are germs in the floor, it will immediately come into contact with the food.

8. The brightest star in the northern hemisphere is the Polaris – This is another common misconception. Actually, Sirius is brighter having a magnitude of 1.47. One the other hand, the magnitude of Polaris is 1.97. The lower the magnitude, the brighter is the star.

9. The Human will explode when exposed to the vacuum of space – This misconception was bolstered by all those cinematic drama we see in sci-fi movies. On the contrary, human can actually survive space for 15 to 30 seconds for as long as they air from their lungs before exposure. You will actually die of asphyxiation once you are exposed to the vacuum of space.

10. Evolution leads to the development of a higher form of species – While we have known that natural selection has led to the weeding out of inferior and unhealthy genes, there are also several imperfect organisms that survive these process of elimination.

Source: top-10-list.org

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